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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27333211">better than yesterday</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/milesfairchild/pseuds/milesfairchild'>milesfairchild</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Shazam! (2019), Shazam! | Captain Marvel (Comics)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Billy Batson Needs a Hug, F/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, a baby who refuses to open up, billy is baby</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 23:28:29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>807</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27333211</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/milesfairchild/pseuds/milesfairchild</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>You nudge at his shin with your foot. "Batson." No response. "Billy." Nothing. "William." Nada. "Hey, <i>ugly</i>."</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Billy Batson/Reader, Billy Batson/You, Captain Marvel/Reader, Shazam/Reader</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>30</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>better than yesterday</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>me and fluff don’t get along 😣</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>You had been able to sense the decline in his mood. Your jokes are dismissed, casual conversation openers are forgotten in favor of sulking. It's safe for anyone to assume that you were, in fact, a little peeved at his disregard for your attempts at cheering him up. Just a tiny bit. Okay, maybe <em>more</em> than just a tiny bit.</p><p>"Alright, Batson. I don't know how much of," you make a vague gesture with your hand, "this I can handle. What's eating at you?" You finally concede, tired of beating around the bush.</p><p>To absolutely no one's surprise, he denies that anything is bothering him. "I don't know what you're talking about."</p><p>You roll your eyes and sigh out at his persistence, getting up from your sat and using your arms to hoist yourself up onto the desk in front of him so that you're in his direct line of vision. He glances up at you from his slouched position in the chair, expressionless and then goes straight back to sulking.</p><p>You nudge at his shin with your foot. "Batson." No response. "Billy." Nothing. "William." Nada. "Hey, <em>ugly</em>."</p><p>"What?!" The outburst pops out of his mouth like a cork flying from the neck of a champagne bottle precipitating you to burst into a fit of laughter. "Wow, Batson, no need to <em>yell</em>. If I'd have known you were gonna respond to that, I would've used it first."</p><p>You don't quite get the reaction you anticipate, which leads to one conclusion; there's something seriously bothering Billy. Your grin fades and you steadily remove your foot from where it's pressed against his shin. It was difficult to point out any distinctions between Billy's fleeting moods and a topic that was actually bothering him and even if you badgered at him to tell you, he just wouldn't. It was hard to communicate how he was feeling without getting incredibly frustrated at himself halfway through the explanation.</p><p>You push yourself back enough to mollify Billy and assess the situation, narrowing your eyes thoughtfully for a moment before inching forward and motioning Billy to sit back into the chair. Billy acquiesces listlessly, not bothering to ask what you were doing. You straddle him carefully, arms wrapping around his neck and pull him into a warm hug. A chaste kiss is pressed onto the underside of his jaw before placing your head on his shoulder.</p><p>He calls you then, his voice a zephyr-like mutter and you hum to let him know that yes, you had heard him. You were there.</p><p>"Do you ever," he cuts himself off there, abandoning this particular line of thought. He recollects his thoughts and then begins again. "I've done a lot of bad things, said a lot of bad things to people who cared about me." A brief pause. "I sometimes think to myself, why am I doing all this. Why do I keep pushing myself to do good when nothing good comes out of it for me. I don't even stop to think about the other people I've helped at the end of it." There's not much else that he can articulate to you.</p><p>"Billy, you're one of the best people I know," you begin, overwhelmed with the amount of love that fills your heart. The guilt weighing down on him refutes the entire implication he makes. Bad people tend to ignore the guilt.  You don't mention that he experiences the thoughts after he's helped others. His instincts always kick in at the right moment. "Just because you've done bad things in the past doesn't mean you're a bad person. What matters is that you're trying now. You have done so much for other people, passing judgments and your thoughts won't change that. You're allowed to be selfish. There are so many people out there who refuse to learn from their mistakes, refuse to acknowledge their mistakes even though they know it hurts people. You have a good heart and just because you think these things don't mean you're a bad person. It's human."</p><p>You fall into a comfortable silence, hand entangled in soft, silky strands of hair. Billy hasn't said a word since you've started talking. He doesn't have to.</p><p>"You don't have to be perfect, Billy. You just need to be the best you can be." A grin stretches across your lips and you nestle into his neck a little more, a morsel of mirth seeping into your tone."Besides, sometimes when you hear Freddy talk and it's like, man, I really wanna break your other leg too." It earns you an amused scoff before you even finish and immediately you're spurred on by it. "I mean it! If that makes me a bad person, then I don't know what to tell you, Billy boy."</p><p>"You're the worst."</p><p>You grin. "Yeah, but you love me."</p><p> </p>
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